30 Facts About Serfoji II

Serfoji II ruled from 1787 until 1793, and then again from 1798 until his death in 1832.

Serfoji II is celebrated for his contributions to art and culture during his time.

In return, Serfoji II became entitled to one-fifth of the state's land revenue and an annual pension of 100,000 star pagodas.

Serfoji II is credited with having built a lot of chathrams or rest houses for weary pilgrims.

Serfoji II's library included treatises on Vedanta, grammar, music, dance and drama, architecture, astronomy, medicine, training of elephants and horses, etc.

Serfoji II set up the first Devanagari printing press in South India, using stone letters.

Serfoji II liberally funded churches and schools run by Christian missionaries.

Serfoji II was a patron of Thanjavur Bade Hussein Durgah.

Serfoji II founded a school called Navavidhya Kalanidhi Sala where languages, literature, the sciences and arts and crafts were taught in addition to the Vedas and shastras.

Serfoji II maintained close ties with the Danes at Tarangambadi and visited their schools quite often and appreciated their way of functioning.

Serfoji II assembled a stone type printing press in 1805, called "Nava Vidya Kalasala Varnayantra" which was the first to use the Devanagari script in southern India.

Serfoji II constructed ten water tanks and a number of wells for civic use.

Serfoji II implemented an underground drainage system for the whole of Thanjavur city.

Serfoji II established the Dhanavantari Mahal, a research institution that produced herbal medicine for humans and animals.

Serfoji II had the important herbs studied and catalogued in the form of exquisite hand paintings.

Serfoji II created the first Zoological Garden in Tamil Nadu in the Thanjavur palace premises.

Serfoji II erected a shipyard at Manora, around fifty kilometers from Thanjavur.

Serfoji II had a gun factory, a naval library and a naval store with all kinds of navigational instruments.

Serfoji II was keenly interested in painting, gardening, coin-collecting, martial arts and patronized chariot-racing, hunting and bull-fighting.

Serfoji II was a patron of traditional Indian arts like dance and music.

Serfoji II is credited with inaugurating and popularising if not inventing the unique Thanjavur style of painting.

Serfoji II installed lightning rods at the top of these monuments and had the history of the Bhonsle Dynasty inscribed on the south-western wall of the Brihadeeswara Temple.

Serfoji II renovated and reconstructed several existing temples like the Brihadeeswara Temple apart from building new ones.

Serfoji II was an ardent philanthropist and a member of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Serfoji II encamped at several places along the route, giving away alms to the needy and the poor and engaging himself in acts of charity.

Serfoji II was involved in the renovation of several holy places.

Serfoji II died on 7 March 1832 after a reign of almost 40 years.

Serfoji II's death was mourned throughout the empire and his funeral procession was attended by over 90,000 people.

Serfoji II was a great savant and humanist, a man who was far ahead of his times.

Serfoji II's vision helped Thanjavur forge ahead of other princely states and advance into a new age and emerge as a fitting competitor to European nations.